According to the Spanish media Guido Carrillo will need to terminate his contract with the club in order to facilitate a move to the newly promoted Spanish club Elche.

It look like Saints will need to give Guido Carrillo a free transfer if they want to get the striker off their wage book, Spanish side Elche are looking to buy the player after being promoted to La Liga, but as in the case of several other big signings on the books the player himself does not want to give up the high wages he is on at St Mary's.

Saints had been hoping to get some return on the player, whom they signed back in January 2018 when Mauricio Pellegrino was manager on a 3 1/2 year deal.

The arrival of Mark Hughes a couple of months later saw Carrillo given little chance under the new manager and he was shipped out on loan the following season.

It is understandable that Carrillo should feel a little miffed to have seen his career stalled through no fault of his own, some Saints fans would say that the Argentinian striker was sub standard, but in fairness to him his games for Saints were in a team in freefall and he was no worse than most of those who were surrounding him in the side, indeed he had a good game in a vital win at West Brom which ultimately saw Saints safe from relegation.

So it is understandable why Carrillo should feel that having signed a contract and done nothing other than give his best, that Saints should have either given him a chance to show what he could do or pay him, unlike others who have been content to go ot on loan after showing little interest in putting in any effort.

So for this deal to go through the media report in Spainare saying it looks like Saints will have to effectively forego any transfer fee so that the player can be paid a signing on fee by Elche to compensate for his lost wages should he make the move.

This is a situation that has not just been Carrillo but also several other big money signings for Saints and it is prevalent in football, where other clubs have had to pay over the odds in both transfer fees and wages in order to sign players who are not worth those amounts.

In fairness these deals were done by a different regime at the club and back then fans were demanding money was spent and it was done and we are now paying the price.

Paying big transfer fees does not always mean you get a player worth that, the likes of Everton and Spurs can pay £50 million for a player, but they can't get a £50 million player if you see what I mean.

For Saints it now looks like with Carrillo they will have to take what they can get, they will save £4 million in wages and bonuses etc and in these times that it better than nothing.

Some will point to the fact that we paid £19 million and that money was wasted, but I would say that we made a panic buy to keep us in the Premier League, we stayed up and Carrillo's contribution was not great, but it was a contribution all the same, losing out on £19 million in transfer fee's is still better than 10 times than in Premier League money.

Photo: Action Images

Sanguin added 12:33 - Sep 30 Carrillo is the legacy of Pellegrino. He was clearly signed because the manager said he needed him to keep us up. I'm not sure we can lump him in the same category as players like Lemina or Boufal. No negative feelings towards him as a player or an individual, but I will be pleased to see him gone to move us forward as a club and provide the opportunity to bring in new players.

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highfield49 added 12:58 - Sep 30 Seeing as he can leave for free anyway when his contract expires next year it makes sense to get him off the wage bill. I can understand why he hasn't featured in the current plans but I'm disappointed that he never got even some of the playing time that other players have squandered. Good luck in the future Guido wherever you might be playing.
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SaintPaulVW added 13:15 - Sep 30 He's not some overlooked gem as RH would have looked at him over the last 21 months. Clearly GC is not rated by him. Best for everyone to just settle up and move on.
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DellBoyWally added 14:14 - Sep 30 Who???????????????????????????????????????????
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underweststand added 15:37 - Sep 30 Agree with most of the points in your article Nick. Les Reed 's last-ditch face-saving attempt to placate Pellegrino (who might well have been sacked a month before) ...by paying through the nose for a player who had a tough time getting on the sub's bench, and when Monaco saw us coming - we paid their price. A deal that ranks alongside Pochettino's demand that Nicola Cortese sign ..Dani Osvaldo (what a great buy he was..! ) and the only excuse we can offer was that Carrillo's apps. were only slightly less than Osvaldo's but nevertheless cost the club dearly. IMHO ....he was no worse than half-a dozen others players in the squad at that time when the team was in freefall, and he got next to zero service playing as a lone striker. Once again we have to put this down to; bad luck / poor scouting / survival desperation but Carrillo also stands out as the most expensive mistake amongst half-a-dozen poor signings since post-Koeman era that has cost the club dearly in financial terms and more than a few sniggers of embarrassment in the footballing world. The " Infamous Six " are costing the club around £20 million /year - without any of them kicking a ball in anger. If Guido has any football left in him, then I wish him well - (wherever he ends up), and if he retires in the near future, he will surely be thankful to Saints for securing his pension.

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